HariOm Parents
Greetings and namaste. A Very Happy Ugadi, Gudi Padwa and Tamil New Year to all your families. At the outset we also would like to congratulate kids who participated in the Gita chanting Yagna and their parents for their hard work in prepping them. Apologies, we have not provided the weekly updates since late Jan through Mar 19th as every week we were busy with preparing for 4th grade presentation followed by extended spring break. So it was exciting to see the kids after a couple of weeks. We started with our daily prayers, Krishna Ashtakam.
We started Balabhagavatam from where we left off - Brahmaji's moha bhangam. The next adventure Krishna was the slaying of Dhenukasura - as the name itself suggests Dhenukasura was a monster in the form of a donkey. He and his minions were guarding a garden that had the juiciest fruits trees and fruits including mangoes, guavas and other varieties right in the middle of Vrindavan. While the fruit garden was right in the middle of Vrindavan, residents of Vrindavan could not enjoy the fruits or benefits of the beautiful garden for the garden sole beneficiary was Kamasa and was guarded by the treacherous demon Dhenkasura day and night.
During one of the lazy strolls after lunch, gopas happened to spot the juicy fruits behind the fence, they could not stop their urge and started going top of the fence and into the garden and enjoying the fruits. Least did they know that the garden was guarded by a demon. Being who they were, Krishna and Balarama started having a gala time. Having heard the commotion, Dhenkasura got distrubed from his sleep and got angry. Dhenkasuara sent his army of minions to look out what was happening. A crowd of donkeys saw the kids enjoying the fruits and having fun, got incensed and charged towards them. All the Gopas scrambled and quickly climbed up the trees to safety, but Krishna and Balarama stood their ground and took care of the minion donkeys one by one. Meanwhile Dhenkasura, got worried and set off to see what was happening - seeing two little kids going after his army of donkeys and slaying them one by one, enraged with fury - he charged towards Balarama. Balarama, observing Dhenkasura's charge, side steps just a few feet as he nears him and grabs by his hind legs and swirls him in the air with all his might and throws far far away. Win one big thud Dhenukasura falls flat on the ground dead. With Dhenukasura dead, the fruit garden was now open for all to enjoy.., the news of death of Dhenukasura and the loss of the juicy fruit garden reaches Kamasa and infuriates him further... alas he panics even more that more of his minions were getting killed one by one by the duo of Krishna and Balarama
Meanwhile.. in Vrindavan, days were rolling by, gopas and Krishna were having the best of their childhood and fun and adventures.
A black serpent of gigantic size, named Kaliya had taken up its residence in a cavern at the bottom of river Yamuna. The serpent was poisonous, arrogant and did not care what was happening around him. Every time Kaliya fumed, it's poisonous breath poisoned the water and the black fumes curling up withered the leaves of a kadamba trees on the bank. No fish could live in that poisoned water and even birds flying overhead, died and fell. The cows drinking the water lie dead on the bank and even the gopas who had unwittingly entered the water were lying unconscious practically dead. Krishna ran towards the banks of Yamuna to see what was happening, reaching the banks, took in the situation at a glance and saw having fun and frolic with his wives, with complete disregard for all the mayhem and death that his poison caused around him. Mad with anger at what happened to his beloved gops, cows and calves, Krishna climbs on the top of one of the withered trees closest to the bank and from one of the branches that was hanging over flowing waters of Yamuna - launches and lands near Kaliya and his wives. Holding his breath, he quickly swims close to Kaliya and crawls his way up to his hood. Kaliya was all this time oblivious of what was happening, suddenly realizing the immense pressure of something hitting his hood with mighty force. Unable to see what was on his forehead, Kaliya struggles to dislodge it from the hood. Meanwhile on the banks of Yamuna.. the entire village of Yamuna gathers including maa Yahshoda and Nand baba and watch with horror, little Krishna on top of this giant serpent spewing venom and all the death around on the banks and in the waters of Yamuna.
A great fight ensues between little Krishna and Kaliya, with Krishna outmaneuvering every move of Kaliya and performing the great celestial dance on its hood. There are many folklores and dances choreographed in Indian classical dances like Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam and Oddissi on Kaliya mardana. Kaliya becomes weak and devoid of all the venom, grows despair and finally surrenders to Krishna and asks for his forgiveness. Krishna pardons Kaliya to leave the waters of Yamuna and go away and back to Ramanka island, and blesses him that he will see no harm from Gaurda - his arch enemy.
The Kaliya episode is symbolic of the multi headed serpent lying within each of us - ahamkara - arrogance, ego - pride, malice, creuelity, jealousy etc... We unwittingly poison and destroy lives around us with all these destructive qualities. However once we let Krishna into our lives and seek his help in slaying these qualities, we become a center of love and sacrifice.
With his we concluded the class with pledge and shanti mantra
Until we meet next
Shivram & Meena
